I need to buy new tires for my 2005 Civic Hybrid, size 185/70 R14 and am having trouble finding them.

Are there any LLR tires in 14 inch?
And why is it so hard to find them?

Is Low Rolling Resistance not needed as much now?
Are 14 inch tires used/installed much less now? If so, why is that?

My research:
I found some recommendations by Consumer Reports and others and tried to find the tires.

Bridgestone, Yokohama do not make any 14 inch tires
Goodyear and Cooper don’t make any LLR tires
Continental does not have a 14 inch LLR.
The Ecopia doesn’t fit my car
Cooper GFE is no longer available.
Energy Saver A/S is not in 14 inch

I think I found one; Michelin Defender, from what i’ve read, it doesn’t seem as good for LLR, and it's $90.

Does anyone know of any other 14 inch LLC?
Have you bought anything recently?

Thank you,
Bill

 

HCH1 LRR tires kinda went away. Your best bet is probably the Defender.

215/60 is almost a perfect fit in terms of speed.
195/70 will give you a 2% speedo error (will read low)
195/65 will give you a 0.8% speedo error (will read slightly high)

Unfortunately, I don't see any sizes that are classified as LRR.

Maybe a call to a local tire shop? Costco?

Good luck,

Steve

 

I have found that Michelin has 2 different tires in that size listed as LRR. If you search on www.tirerack. com you can find them. I am considering the defender myself. I look at it not as a $90 tire, but at 180k on the car, the only tire investment I will ever make on it. My HCH1 currently has the wrong size tires on it. 14" tires are getting harder to find, besides manufacturers having limited offerings, more and more retailers are choosing not to stock them because they just don't move.